Love and Death
by Elevated-Eden
Summary: The story of Bill through single episodes of his life, new chapter up: Budd's sad story, R&R!
1. ORen and her daughter

Disclaimer: All "Kill Bill" characters are solely the property of Miramax and Quentin Tarantino

A.n.:

Bill is, without a doubt, the most complicated character in the movie and he intrigued me to a very high degree to write this story about various episodes of his life.

These episodes are mostly original and some rely on information from the film. Due to Bill's high status, and therefore cold heart, a lot of his decisions and deeds will be unpleasing and unsatisfying but I tried to make them true to his personality.

So, without further ado, I present you the first chapter out of a (hopefully successful) series:

-

The young man placed a finger to his lips, whispering in an abyssal, haunting voice.  
  
_See the snakes inside your bed, let them crawl into your head...  
_  
He stood in a saturnine room, his eyes scowling with a deep sinister gaze towards the little girl in front of him. She was shaking with agitation, lying on her small bed, captivated by the serpent that slowly clutched her feet with its sleek corpus.  
  
_Do not fear the mindless beast, on its dead soul you shall feast...  
_  
With a swift motion of his hands, he threw a small dagger to the little colleen. She blinked, looking at him without any apprehension. The viper crawled further, stretching out his purple tongue, his marble eyes cautiously anticipating the situation.  
  
Bill's sardonic grin grew wider as his female adolescent scholar reached for the knife, grasping it tightly in her small palm. She blinked rapidly when the fiend had enrolled her neck and ran his lingua over her cheek.  
  
Then, with her straight, brown eyes, she gripped the animal's pate, digging the razor sharp metal into its chin, the dark blood bursting out of the fresh opening. The vent increased as she pushed the iron further inside, penetrating the snake's head.  
  
A delighted smile appeared on her mentor's face as she decapitated the foul creature that dared to disturb her sleep. It had been her first kill and the excitement was unlimited. Nothing ever gave a human being a greater feeling of power and strength than the ancient ritual of murder. Even a child could the unruly beauty hidden within it, waiting to unleash itself on any antis.

He closed the door to her room and progressed downstairs, walking in a calm fashion, each step accurate and every breath exhaled with startling cadence.  
  
The young woman was patiently awaiting him at the small tea table, waving a white Agemaki in her left hand. Her shimmering white kimono looked flawless on her slim, vibrant body and the hairpin was delicately emblazing her soft, pitch-dark hair.  
  
"I commend you on that girl, O-Ren." Bill said, in his rough but charismatic way, a faint smile on his aged mouth. He sat on his knees opposite to her and grasped the porcelain teacup with both hands. "I do regret that we have not enough guests for Chado, though - I always enjoyed the obscurity of it."  
  
O-Ren suavely smiled, placing her exquisite fan on the table, lifting her cup and drinking the green fluidity with great delight. "When, do you think?" She asked, delicately placing the cup back onto the wood.  
  
"Kenjutsu?" Bill smiled, his shrewd eyes piercing through the woman like a blade. "As soon as possible. She reminds me of you." He said, returning to his hot beverage.  
  
O-Ren's brown irises glanced downwards. "I still remember that serpent." Her voice trembled slightly. Bill's old, practiced hand smoothly touched her forehead. Tardily, she lifted her eyes, looking at him in a deep, woeful gaze.  
  
"You are strong and so is she. She has inherited all of your talents." His voice pacified her soul, while his fingers caressed her skin. "We can't let her waste all that, it would be wrong, not to mention foolish."  
  
Adagio, she nodded, her eyelids closed, shielding her tears from his omniscient stare. "I know - it can't be otherwise." She quivered, her soul bleeding from knowing the girl would share her own fate.  
  
Every mother, first and foremost, wants the very best for her child – be it son or daughter. Misery, suffering, pain, fear should be eradicated from their lives, which instead should flourish with joy and delight.  
  
The thought of her young daughter becoming an assassin, a ruthless, cold- blooded, mindless killer that enjoys slaughtering innocent people for money, taking his only satisfaction and finding pleasure solely in the fact that his power and skill are unmatched by anybody else in this world, was ripping her apart inside.  
  
"We all have our place in life, O-Ren." Her master said, putting his hand back on the table as she opened her eyes, revealing sparkling tears all over them. "And we belong here, all of us. Your daughter too."  
  
Bill's cheek blushed crimson, having received a fierce slap by a strong, female hand.  
  
"Don't you write her off! Don't you dare decide her fate!" O-Ren shouted, raving with vile anguish.  
  
"I'm sorry." Bill said, standing up and bidding adieu with a reluctant bow of his head.  
  
O-Ren rushed to her feet in pace, watching him walk out of her life the same way that he had entered it. Her face was covered with bitter tears. "Why? Why don't you love her? Gogo is your daughter, Bill!"  
  
Bill turned his head to her for a last time, halting in front of the door and touching its border as his expression turned austere and grave. His eyes looked sad and tired as he spoke the words that tore O-Ren in two.  
  
"No, she isn't. She never was and she never will be." He stated, his voice echoing with vast sorrow as he bowed his head to her once more.  
  
"I am grieved." He spoke, abandoning O-Ren as she collapsed to her knees, pressing her wavering hands into the cold, green floor and letting out a heart-rending cry, that could only resemble a fraction of her endless pain, blazing in the cold ocean of her desolate soul.

-

Glossary notes:

Agemaki - A fan / An ornamental bow common in armor throughout samurai history

Chado - A term used to describe the art and practice of the ancient Japanese tea ceremony

Kenjutsu - The study and practice of swordsmanship

-

Please, read and review


	2. Pai Mei's last lesson

Disclaimer: All "Kill Bill" characters are the property of Miramax and Quentin Tarantino

A.n.:

I wanted to remind you that this story is only interesting if you saw both parts of "Kill Bill". So for those of you, who haven't yet seen the second part, this contains **spoilers**.

In contrast to the previous chapter, this one's more lightweight.

-

Slowly walking up the odious stone steps, Bill felt the wind stroke across his coarse, long hair, as if recognizing Pai Mei's best student who spent so much time here, running his bare feet to waste. He had made it through his dreaded training, not failing once at any of his lessons.  
  
He had left the lonesome man with content and sour likewise. The Chinese master had taught him the secrets of his technique but left out just as many. Then, he felt like a music fan, walking out of a concert of his favorite band that decided to leave out his most beloved songs.  
  
"Disciple!" A loud voice shuddered from above. Bill turned his head upwards, just in time to react to Pai Mei, coming down on him with his feet forward. He rolled to his right, holding his balance on the stairs while the most radical contrary to a paragon of virtue managed to slow down his flight and land onto the edge of a step, standing perfectly straight, as if he hadn't just fallen several hundreds of meters downwards.  
  
Veering his quaint face towards his gifted old pupil, he fondled his white beard with overindulgence, grinning at Bill's confused face. With completely ravishing finesse, the legendary martial artist approached him, posing on the stony brink and chuckling slightly.  
  
"You had luck that I warned you, otherwise you would be on ground level with most of your bones broken by now." The kung-fu master rattled off a quick comment.  
  
Bill merely shook his head with a barely visible smile on his face. "I never did get your peculiar humor, Pai Mei."  
  
His opposite smirked at the sharp remark. Pai Mei had learned to speak English many years ago, simply out of boredom. But he preferred speaking Chinese to new students, no better than just to annoy the living hell out of them.  
  
"Have you come to finally learn to fight or are you just unimaginably attracted to me?" Pai Mei asked, faking a bad accent.  
  
"To our mutual relief, nor the one nor the other." Bill laughed. "I want to ask a favor."  
  
The Chinese made an ugly face – as always completely ruining the image of the wise and sagacious Buddhist. "He wants a favor?" He asked, following the question with a loud, shrill laugh.  
  
"Yes, I ask for you to accept a friend of mine as your student." Bill got straight to the point, visibly annoyed with Pai Mei's fatuous display of bad style. "A female."  
  
Having heard Bill's plea, the master almost lost his equilibration. "A woman?"  
  
"That's right, old friend – a woman. A gorgeous, white blonde, to be a little more exact." Bill said, pleased with the Chinese loosing all his attitude at the sheer mentioning of a delegate of the opposite sex.  
  
"Thanks, I appreciate it." He relieved Pai Mei of affirming to his wish. The master snorted, outraged by him being treated like an old fool, desperate for sexual contact, but gave in to his avidity.  
  
Bill had only one more question to ask his old teacher – a personal and meaningless one, in fact. "Pai Mei, why?" He asked, an ironic smile adorning his face.  
  
The master bowed his head in shame, but still admitted his reasons. "The seclusion in this place has the most to do with it." He gazed up, not pleased with Bill's reaction to his confession – he laughed, quickly restraining his smile as the master's eyes went red with anger.  
  
Bill shook his head, looking at the ground, the smile not fainting from his face as he cleared his throat and rephrased his question. "I didn't mean that. I wanted to know why you refused to teach me your most difficult techniques when I was ready to learn them."  
  
Pai Mei relaxed, returning to the hygiene of his beard. "Let me ask you a question." He said, his face turning unusually serious. "What would you have done, the moment you mastered them?"  
  
Bill never thought of the solution being so logical. Of course, the problem lied not within the fact that he wasn't good enough. It was the contrary. And it didn't take him more than a second's time to retort to Pai Mei's question, with utmost and sincere honesty.  
  
"I would have killed you."  
  
The Chinese nodded, chuckling slightly in apprehension of his future task – teaching young Caucasians the way of the warrior.  
  
"I didn't come here in vain, Pai Mei. Thank you. I'm looking forward to seeing you again someday." Bill admitted his contentment with their conversation, as he turned back, following the stony steps to the fresh, green grass beneath them.  
  
It was their last personal meeting. Pai Mei would die by the hand of the blonde, foolishly thinking she would be as wise as her female predecessor, who made him radically change his mind towards women in general.  
  
Beatrix Kiddo remained the only human being to ever learn his deadliest techniques, because she had been the only person that he trusted. Trust, is what makes a human being most vulnerable – this remained Pai Mei's personal lesson. 


	3. Matsumoto and the little girl

Disclaimer: "Kill Bill" and all of it's characters are solely the property of Miramax and Quentin Tarantino.

A.n.:

This chapter draws its infromation out of the hilarious anime from "Volume One." In case you hadn't realized (although I'm sure you did): The man in the grey suit, who murdered the little girl's parents _is_ the main character of this story.

-

The young man narrowed his eyes at the people in front of him. They looked absurd, dressed in fancy, colorful clothes, smoking marihuana and gripping samurai swords. It resembled a circus, rather than a meeting of crime lords.  
  
And Bill didn't like being insulted with such impudence...  
  
"Bill, get over here, let me introduce you to somebody." Matsumoto's rancid snort of a voice rang out. The young man balled his fists, joining the boss, who held a small girl's arm in his right hand.  
  
Bill knew that girl...  
  
"This is Cindy, I named her that earlier, what do you think?" The mobster asked, a disgusting smile on his ugly, scarred face.  
  
"Splendid..." Bill replied, desperately trying to recall where he had seen the young beauty before. The more he looked at her, the more she reminded him of a particular night – the night they killed the Chinese soldier and his wife.  
  
O-Ren nodded her cute head towards him, but Bill almost lost his breath when he looked into her eyes. They were ablaze, bursting with frigid, infinitely dismaying hate. One couldn't compare her to any other girl that the pathetic pedophile had ever dated – her eyes were enough to kill a human being.  
  
Swallowing hard, Bill started thinking as fast as possible. Something about that girl worried him and he was in the unique position of probably saving the miserable, corrosive bastard from sure death. But then he asked himself a most interesting and startling question – did he want to save him?  
  
Matsumoto provided him with steady money, a place to stay and a job that he was very fond of. Yet he made the mistake of introducing Bill to the other bosses. They were all very interested in employing the single best assassin in Japan. And they weren't all screwing infants.  
  
The little girl intrigued him. She was already avenging her parents although her contemporaries were probably still attending primary school. Not all small children have so much will and guts, to sacrifice their body and soul to an underground crime lord, whose excellent security forces are always ready to eradicate any of his enemies.  
  
To sneak into his life, kill him and then escape his fortress of a home is a task that even Bill would have barely been able to handle. His anxiety changed to respect within a few seconds. He stared at the girl, who at this moment was the only person in the entire room that Bill was honestly congenial with.  
  
"Hello Cindy, I'm Bill." He introduced his persona to the little colleen. "Glad to make your acquaintance."  
  
O-Ren nodded, simpering a charming and delicate smile. "Me too." She said to the man who murdered her parents in cold blood in front of her that dreadful night. He would be the next one on her list of vengeance.  
  
Bill excused himself as he left the meeting, gasping fresh air. He took a seat inside his car and waited. He waited until the meeting was over and most of the limousines had disappeared from the parking lot of Matsumoto's residence.  
  
Then he sneaked inside, as silent as a snake, unseen by any of the sentries. When he reached his employer's private bedroom, he heard shots fire. Immediately realizing what had taken place, he leaned onto the wall beside the door, patiently awaiting the young girl to come out.  
  
When she did, he hit the weapon out of her hand, placing his palm onto her mouth and pulling her close to him.  
  
"Shhh, little princess. I'm most sympathetic to your aims of avenging your parents' death. I will help you out of here." He said in a soft-spoken, soothing voice.  
  
O-Ren struggled, trying to cut herself loose from his grip, but soon accepted his offer. She was in need of help - if she wanted to get out alive. The first guards were already arriving.  
  
"What happened? Where's Matsumoto?" They asked with great concern.  
  
"Inside, the killer is still with him. The girl barely managed to escape." Bill lied with artistic dexterity. He pushed O-Ren over to one of the guards. "Get her out of here, she's in deep shock. He was killed in front of her eyes. It's the least we can do for the poor thing."  
  
The sentinel nodded and disappeared into the hallway, leading to the exit. Meanwhile, a couple of Matsumoto's bodyguards had entered his bedroom and soon realized what Bill told them was a lie. But it was already too late.  
  
Bill struck his sword with sharp poignancy through their necks, before they even turned around. Matsumoto's most skilled employee escaped his fortress through the window, landing on the ground with twisted stylishness as he disappeared into the nocturnal nothingness.  
  
The girl forgave him that night...

-


	4. Budd's sad story

"Just in case you're asking yourself: "How the fuck could me and my buddy end up in close company with a psychotic killer, let me reflect on what actually happened today..."

-

I was in town for a few days, checking out some friends, getting drunk, I was on my fucking holiday and I was enjoying it.

-

Budd lifted his 9mm...

"And just off the record – I'm not enjoying this shit right now."

...And shot a hole right through Evan's shoulder, as the poor piece of shit tried to yell his way through his taped lips. And when I say taped, I don't mean cello tape; I mean his lips were fucking tuckered.

-

So, like I said, I was having a good time and one night, I went to this joint called "La Granda"

-

He lit a cigarette, exhaled and sat down on a chair right in front of Evan and his comrade Klaus.

"Ever been to that one?" He asked them with genuine interest.

Of course, he didn't get an answer.

"No? Well, pay a visit sometime and take your kids with ya, they'll love it!" Budd said, watching blood dripping out of their mouths.

"Care for a Kleenex?" He laughed.

-

Back to my story, boys:

So there I was in that joint, minding my business and drunk as a skunk, when this fine ass blonde came up to my table. She said she was French, but I didn't remember her name...fuck it, anyway: she came up to me and asked if I wanted to buy her a drink.

The music was loud as fuck, so I leaned forward and she repeated her request, but in such a way that I knew that she didn't just want a drink, she was in the mood to fuck my brains out. So I happily agreed and gave her some cash as she walked up to the barman, shaking that ass of hers like she was going for a record or something.

He gives her a glass of scotch and she just cants that booze down like it was fucking ice tea! And then she just walks away, but before she does, she gives me that follow-me-and-I'll-show-you-everything-finger and blows me a kiss.

-

"Damn, boys, I've been come on to more than a couple of times in my life, but this was truly something special!" Budd giggled, pouring himself some Chivas Regal.

-

So I get off my ass and follow hers upstairs. Yeah, that joint even has upstairs rooms like those old saloons in those old Westerns would have! I follow her up those stairs, anticipating the fuck of a lifetime, as she opens a door and waves me inside. I straighten my clothes, breathe in, breathe out and walk into the room.

She's already lying there, with that gorgeous body of hers. And just when I shut the goddamn door, you know what happens? I see my fucking brother standing behind it with that fucking grin of his.

For a minute we just look at each other, before he tells that girl to scram and me to sit my ass down.

-

"That motherfucker!" Budd laughed, lighting another smoke. "I'm all for brotherly heart-to-hearts but couldn't he have picked a better time?"

-

So we have one of these talks: he tells me he needs my assistance with a pair of punky little twits. I tell him I'm on fucking holiday. We have a little fight, he calls me an ignorant, pedophile jerk-off, and I call him a hard-assed old faggot. Then I accept.

-

"And as chess players like to say: the rest is history!" Budd laughs again, leaving his chair and throwing on some honky-tonk music.

"You know what pisses me off most of all?" Budd asked, picking up his Hanzo sword. "That girl went back to his room!"

"That's just so much like that bastard!" He complained, slicing Klaus' torso open. "What a fucking egomaniac!"


End file.
